Barbara Blair is mad as hell about the state of Midtown and isn’t going to take it anymore. “There’s general disorder and mayhem,” the president of the Garment District Alliance said at a Crain’s Power Breakfast Tuesday morning. She noted the unlicensed vendors on the streets, decrepit restaurant sheds and “100 billion weed shops that can’t be closed up even though we all know they’re illegal.” A majority of New Yorkers in the five boroughs share Blair’s rage, according to a survey of 6,600 households by the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonprofit watchdog group.By nearly every measure, residents feel the quality of life in the city has deteriorated in recent years, sometimes sharply. Only 37% rate public safety in their neighborhood as excellent or good, down from 50% in 2017. 24% rate the quality of government services good or excellent, down from 44% in 2017. And only 30% rate the quality of life as excellent or good, down from 50% in 2017 and 2008, while and a third rate the quality of life as poor. “This is New Yorkers speaking and the numbers are stark,” said Andrew Rein, president of the CBC. “The pockets of good news are sparse.” A majority of New Yorkers still rate fire services, emergency medical services, garbage pickup and libraries as excellent. That’s about all for the good news, however. Fewer than 10% are satisfied with how housing needs are being addressed. Only 11% believe tax dollars are being spent wisely, down from 21% in 2017. The numbers... Continue reading at 'Crains New York'
[ Crains New York | 2024-03-19 18:21:51 UTC ]
Far from making programmers an endangered species, AI will release them from the grunt work that stifles innovationWhen digital computers were invented, the first task was to instruct them to do what we wanted. The problem was that the machines didn’t understand English – they only knew ones and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-05-11 15:00:29 UTC ]
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How to prepare for Pride month in the library, both as library workers and library lovers. That, plus this week's book censorship news roundup. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-05-10 11:30:00 UTC ]
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Among the headlines this week: John Oliver weighs in on book bans and libraries (and so do his viewers); more library drama in Alabama; and how to prepare for Pride month. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-10 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is mounting a push for state lawmakers to pass a set of bills loosening some of the rules that govern the city’s notoriously slow capital process, which city leaders say would allow major projects to get done more quickly and cheaply.The city needs permission... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2024-05-09 10:03:04 UTC ]
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Libraries in B.C. have been targeted by a hacker who threatened to release user data if a ransom was not paid. The B.C. Libraries Co-operative said it was contacted by a hacker "attempting to extort payment" using private information taken from its servers. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2024-05-03 18:55:02 UTC ]
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Dozens of books have disappeared from Warsaw to Paris. Police are looking into who is taking them, and why — a tale of money, geopolitics, crafty forgers and lackluster library security. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-05-01 09:01:24 UTC ]
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Last week over 100 cops from the EU’s police agency fanned out over Georgia and Latvia to bust a group of criminals who stole around 170 antique books from libraries across Europe. Over two years, the gang is suspected in the robbery of “rare books mainly written by Russian writers—including... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-04-30 17:42:09 UTC ]
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One of the great embarrassments of New York, the richest city in America, is how money can’t be found to keep public libraries open every single day.It is, truly, a matter of priorities. Other far-reaching, progressive policy proposals can come with enormous upfront costs — municipal or... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2024-04-29 15:50:14 UTC ]
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Mayor Eric Adams’ nearly $112 billion executive budget, released Wednesday, includes more than $5 billion for health care initiatives, a figure that has grown by $172 million since his January preliminary budget.The revised plan avoids new spending cuts for city agencies and paints a rosier... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2024-04-25 09:33:07 UTC ]
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Mayor Eric Adams announced a revised $111.6 billion budget plan on Wednesday that avoids new spending cuts and increases estimates of the city’s tax haul, reflecting his administration’s increasingly sunny view of New York’s finances. But the proposal rebuffs the City Council’s request to undo... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2024-04-24 16:53:57 UTC ]
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Beautiful bookstores, finalists for the NYPL's Young Lions Award, and more of the day's most interesting bookish news. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-04-19 16:41:47 UTC ]
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It’s 2015. My partner and I are in Moab, Utah, for the summer, far from our home of Philadelphia. He is doing research for his dissertation. I am struggling to rewrite a novel that my editor says—and I agree—isn’t working. The desert landscape in southwest Utah is magnificent and to us wholly... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-04-19 08:53:24 UTC ]
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Children of the Sun burst onto the indie scene like a muzzle flash on a dark night. Publisher Devolver Digital dropped the game’s first trailer on February 1, showcasing frenzied sniper shots and a radioactive art style. A Steam demo highlighting its initial seven stages went live that same day... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-04-18 19:45:11 UTC ]
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With a solar eclipse recently plunging parts of the world in darkness—and the #1 show on Netflix highlighting the chaos caused by multiple celestial bodies in motion (3 Body Problem)—it’s safe to say that the stars have captured the popular imagination yet again. Astronomers, physicists, and... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2024-04-17 20:00:00 UTC ]
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Diana Goetsch spent months visiting red-state libraries to do presentations on the freedom to read. Would she be recognized, or clocked as transgender? Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-04-17 10:00:08 UTC ]
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Among the headlines this week: ALA releases the 2024 State of America's Libraries Report; PLA reports strong attendance at its annual conference; and Idaho passes a "harmful to minors" bill. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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I suspect many writers spend hours and hours at their local library and, if they’re anything like me, they can often feel like they’re swallowed up in a grandiose, if not downright mythological reservoir of knowledge. I remember living in Los Angeles, going to the Los Angeles Public Library,... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-11 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The Pretendo Network, an open-source Nintendo Network alternative, no longer requires a hacked Wii U console. With Nintendo’s servers for the obsolete console shutting down on Monday, the Pretendo Network shared a new workaround that provides (limited) access to its homebrew servers without... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-04-09 19:27:49 UTC ]
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A Louisiana bill would criminalize membership in the American Library Association with fines, jail time, or hard labor. No, this isn't a joke. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-04-03 16:22:38 UTC ]
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The City Council said it has found an additional $6 billion in newly identified city dollars to undo many of Mayor Eric Adams’ spending cuts and make new investments in affordable housing construction and education.Lawmakers on Monday released their official response to the mayor’s $109 billion... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2024-04-01 17:27:55 UTC ]
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